Serious Sweet

LONGLISTED FOR THE 2016 MAN BOOKER PRIZE

A good man in a bad world, Jon Sigurdsson is 59 and divorced: a senior civil servant in Westminster who hates many of his colleagues and loathes his work for a government engaged in unmentionable acts. A man of conscience.

Meg Williams is ‘a bankrupt accountant – two words you don’t want in the same sentence, or anywhere near your CV’. She’s 45 and shakily sober, living on Telegraph Hill, where she can see London unfurl below her. Somewhere out there is safety.

Somewhere out there is Jon, pinballing around the city with a mobile phone and a letter-writing habit he can’t break. He’s a man on the brink, leaking government secrets and affection as he runs for his life.

Set in 2014, this is a novel of our times. Poignant, deeply funny, and beautifully written, Serious Sweet is about two decent, damaged people trying to make moral choices in an immoral world: ready to sacrifice what’s left of themselves for honesty, and for a chance at tenderness. As Jon and Meg navigate the sweet and serious heart of London – passing through 24 hours that will change them both for ever – they tell a very unusual, unbearably moving love story.

LUNGIT PENTRU PRETUL MAN BOOKER 2016 om bun intr-o lume rea, Jon Sigurdsson are 59 de ani si este divortat: un functionar public superior din Westminster care uraste multi dintre colegii sai si ii uraste munca pentru un guvern angajat in acte nementionabile. Un om de constiinta. Meg Williams este „un contabil falit - doua cuvinte pe care nu le doresti in aceeasi propozitie sau oriunde in apropierea CV-ului tau”.